Alex Shvartsman wrote:

> I am expecting a son in less than 1 week!
>

Congratulations! A book I found really helpful is _The Continuum Concept_ by
Jean Leidloff. It discussed family life (in particular, babies) by an
indigenous group in South America. The book has some flaws, but overall it
was very interesting to me in helping me to understand my mothering
instincts encouraging me to follow those instincts rather than "society."

Some important parts of the logistics and philosophy of our parenting
choices:
- keep your baby close on your body at all times -- a sling helps during the
day and sharing a bed at night.
- babies expend their energy by being carried by someone else who is
expending energy. They seem to really require this active movement often.
(Sitting in front of a computer isn't enough, LOL!)
-Allow easy access to the breast. Some studies of indigenous tribes show
that babies there nurse 30 or 40 times in a day. They are more "grazers"
than "meal eaters." Our son didn't nurse this often (perhaps due to the fact
that I nearly always wore a shirt!) but he certainly never adhered to a "3
hour schedule"
-Lots of crying isn't normal. If a baby is crying it's doing its best to
communicate a need -- usually for milk, but sometimes it's for a temperature
adjustment, a desire for movement, etc. Our son literally went weeks at a
time without crying.
-Incorporate your baby into your life, rather than centering your life
around the baby.
-Trust your baby to communicate its needs. Trust yourself that your heart
will guide you in the right way.

Honestly, though, for the first few months, it's all about the
breastfeeding.  :-)  Does that make this post on topic, since it's about
Paleo eating???

But that doesn't mean fathers can't be involved! My husband wore our baby in
the sling for hours each day (especially while being active), bathed him,
dressed him, etc. He was hugely involved and the two of them have an
amazingly strong bond today.

Best of luck to you! Please keep us posted.

-Rosemary


Oh -- one other thing -- if you are going to be *really* into raising a
Paleo baby, you might want to research something called "elimination
communication." It's a way to teach infants to pee and poop on command so
you can hold them over the toilet, and avoid diaper use. We didn't try this
(honestly, for us, cloth diapers felt "crunchy" enough!) but we know several
people online who have been very successful with this. I'm sure if you did a
Google search you could find out lots more about this. My guess is that this
method is how Paleo families dealt with infant elimination.